The present invention relates to the field of connectors and, more particularly, to an improved edge board connector for releasably connecting a plurality of printed circuit boards.
It is common in the manufacture of electronic devices to provide an interface between circuits on a plurality of printed circuit boards, which may be in the form of ribbon cords or edge board connectors. As exemplified in FIG. 1, such edge board connectors may comprise a housing 1 made of a suitable synthetic resin material and a plurality of preloaded electrical contacts 2, 3 arranged in opposed pairs within the housing. The housing 1 may have an elongated aperture in its front face 4 for receiving the leading edge of a printed circuit board 5. The electrical contacts may include metallization fingers adapted to make electrical contact with circuitry on the board when it is assembled into place. The electrical contacts 2, 3 may have bare lead ends extending from a rear face 7 of the housing and such ends may be soldered to individual conductors on another printed circuit board 8. However, such soldered connection would sometimes become faulty during the use of the connector and cannot provide for easy disconnection thereof from the board if desired. Further, there is always the problem of potential damage to the bare lead ends due to inadvertent handling.
It is desirable therefore to provide a connector wherein two printed circuit boards can be inserted for electrical connection therebetween without the necessity of forming a soldered connection to any of the boards. To accomplish this, it is necessary to provide the connector with two board receiving apertures in the front and rear faces thereof. However, such construction would make it extremely difficult to assemble electrical contacts into place within the housing wherein the resiliant contacts are properly preloaded. This requirement for a proper preloading prevents the development of connectors which can releasably connect two printed circuit boards.